Blawgletter’s old friend from Philadelphia says "ur" when she means "err". Her noun form — "error" — comes out as "urur". We suppose they teach it that way at Bryn Mawr.
Which cast us to wondering about human fallibility — specifically the kind that makes us credulous, trusting, gullible, trickable, defraudable fools. What about our nature requires our susceptibility to deception? Did dupability give our caveman ancestors an advantage over cynics in the battle for survival? Did God design us to believe falsehoods? Has your mind already started to wander?
Blawgletter imagines that trusting our fellows pays emotional and other dividends. And some might say that we couldn’t function socially without accepting necessary myths. But the most successful people we know — in the myriad ways we may define success — make the fewest big mistakes, especially ones involving the trustworthiness of other people.
Or so we would have you believe.
Barry Barnett
